Arsenal fan

Maybe it is economy! Going down to save money? Ashlyns 3G costs more than Kings Langley 1st team pitch which costs more than their outside stadium pitch.

SSMFL 2 has a rule to help reserve sides out!

Latest news on the save Broadwater battle. Update – the latest in Berkhamsted FC’s fight to ... (propertyinvestortoday.co.uk)

Says something about the people that own the Broadwater ground that they cannot see the obvious. They are meant to be appointed as trustees to keep it for sport permanently, as is obvious from the 1920's public appeal that funded buying it. The 3,700 petitioners and elected council all know it, as do the present residents of the town. Sounds like the Raiders chairman Keith (Pollard) is manipulating the self elected old boys on the landlords' board (Orville on another thread).

Interesting.....very interesting as Barry Davies used to say of a good F.Lee goal! Local politicians listening to residents-might catch on. Could be worrying for Thakeham, Berkhamsted Raiders and the Broadwater landowners. A 3,700 strong petition contains a lot of electors for a small town. Keep Broadwater for Southern League football.

I see ex Tring supremo Howard "Conference football in 5 years" Wells has resurfaced on a video at bulbournecross.co.uk backing the plan to put Berkhamsted Raiders in a step2/3 stadium at Bourne End. What could possibly go wrong?

Non-league football is certainly not all in it together. The pyramid has fallen apart. Last season null and void did not apply to elite and this season playing through lockdown was different for elite and non-elite. Now the top two steps are splitting one elite league into two on the null and void issue. Might SSMFL follow suit and continue some divisions but not others? My money is still on null and void but there are some leagues and clubs that want to run mini-divisions and cups to give some competitive football for the rest of the season if the government allows it.

It is hard to keep up. So Raiders now just want to pay a fee to use Bulbourne, like their SSMFL side do at Kings Langley, used to do at Ashlyns School, and youth teams do as far away as Cheddington. So Bulbourne is not going to be their long sought after home of their own. Perhaps they want their home to be in Berkhamsted -at Velvet Lawn or Durrants Lane. Just as Comrades want to keep a home of their own at Broadwater. Sounds like much ado about nothing. The council have already spent their money on a draft local plan that rejects the Thakeham estate. That suggests Bulbourne is not going to happen. Even if it did, councillors are not going to be turkeys voting for Christmas. They will not pass plans for flats on Broadwater in the face of a 4,000 signature petition to keep it green as a football ground. Raiders and Comrades do not want their homes in Bourne End and are not going to finance the buildings. Just who is going to spend money building sports facilities there and maintain them day in day out?

Simples- as the meerkat would say. Berko FC want to play in Berko town centre -not Bourne End. If Raiders want to move from Kings Langley to Bourne End , where the big attraction is free land and lots of pitches, the Comrades are not stopping them. The Comrades just do not want their ground sold to pay for Raiders' buildings. Raiders' trustees have got some nerve (or is it just Pollard wearing his BSGCA/Dacorum Sports Network hats) !

It went really slowly with the developer that wants to destroy 200 acres of Green Belt land giving the usual environmental window dressing. Turn countryside into a country park etc. and as they will make hundreds of millions from the estate they can add infrastructure. He did say they had not entered discussions to buy Broadwater. Raiders mouthpiece Forster waffled aimlessly. At least The Emirates is a lot nearer Highbury than Bourne End is to Broadwater but it still lacks atmosphere and the history goes.

Not quite Rhodes, page 2 is full of SSMFL interest. All about the fight to keep football in Berkhamsted and at Broadwater. The picture includes an SSMFL ball, so maybe an SSMFL game too! I wish them luck against their seemingly uncharitable landlords from hell.

If you have the time Rhodes you can search through 1,500 signatures added today to the Comrades petition to save Broadwater for football to see if his name is there. Does the Raiders statement help you or anyone else? The Raiders Trustees have agreed to take a neutral view on any planning debate in the town. Our comments relating to the provision of sports facilities are as follows: We will not take a Club view on where housing development should take place. That is a decision for DBC following consultation with local residents. Our members and local residents will contribute to the consultation on the Local Plan so that DBC’s decision on sites and locations reflects the town’s wishes We welcome any development of sports facilities that offsets the current shortage of facilities in Berkhamsted. We aim to ensure that, wherever housing development takes place in the town, there is more than adequate provision of facilities for sport and leisure for both current and future needs. The Bulbourne Cross development provides an opportunity for the development of extensive sports and leisure provision and will accommodate the needs of multiple clubs and sports.

Rhodes may be right. Raiders have probably gone to ground because they do not want to upset their mums and dads by being linked to the plot to join Hemel and Berko at Bourne End and build thousands of houses on green belt land and Broadwater. The chairman of Berkhamsted Raiders is a director of the BSGCA who own the Comrades ground. He is also on the Dacorum Sports Network along with the guy that was chairman of Tring Athletic before the recent coup. There seems to be a history of plotting behind closed doors. Back to work now-busy days explain my absence..

FACTS 1. Raiders were in a beauty contest for the Broadwater lease and they lost. 2. Their consolation prize was Sunday use at Broadwater. They lost that to Watford Ladies when Raiders pulled their under 18s out of the Eastern Junior Alliance. 3. Counties and the FA do not foist 3G pitches onto clubs-they wait for invites from clubs like Raiders. 4 Raiders do not want a lease of Broadwater. They want it sold for housing and strangely feel entitled to a big slice of the proceeds. OPINION Lee Groves was sacked on philosophical grounds!

I see South Shields lost their tribunal case for points per game promotion. It seems the logic was the pandemic was not foreseeable so the FA, NLS and Leagues were able legally to scrap titles, promotion and relegations without really consulting clubs. Meanwhile in Scotland and English Leagues 1 and 2 and the National League, clubs have been consulted and points per game was used with promotion and relegation instead of null and void. Clubs need to use this month’s League AGMs to seize back control and prevent the same farce probably taking place next summer. There might be a second virus wave and late season start, both of which are foreseeable. Here is three draft rule changes that at least offer possible promotion routes if clubs fail by AGM time. Some would also add rules to relegate on points per game but that is not my preference for an incomplete season: X. This rule only applies in the event that the FA truncate the playing season and at least two thirds of the scheduled matches for the season have been played for a division. For each team, the number of points obtained in games played (after any deductions made by the Competition or by The FA) shall be divided by the number of league games they played in the division before the season was truncated, to determine each team’s points per game. For each division a table shall be produced arranging teams in descending order of points per game. The team with the highest points per game will be declared the winners of the division. In the event of two or more teams having the same number of points per game, their relative positions shall be decided in favour of the team with the higher goal difference. If teams are level on points per game and goal difference their relative position shall be determined in favour of the team that scored most goals. If teams are level on points per game, goal difference and goals scored, their relative position shall be determined in favour of the team that won most matches. Y. Where rule X applies, if there would otherwise be less than 20 teams left in the Premier division for the following season, then the number of teams shall be shall be brought up to 20, by promoting sufficient teams from division One based on their position in the points per game table (winners first). Where rule X applies, if there would otherwise be less than 20 teams left in the division One for the following season, then the numbers shall be shall be brought up to 20, by promoting sufficient teams from division Two based on their position in the points per game table (winners first). Z If teams cannot take promotion because of ground grading or wish to decline promotion then the vacancy shall be filled by promoting the next team in the points per game table, but teams that finish below third in the points per game table shall not be offered promotion.